Dike Onwuamaeze
The Association of Corporate Treasurers of Nigeria (ACTN) has declared that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reforms have laid strong foundation for businesses to hedge their exposures and invest with confidence.
These reforms, according to ACTN, include the announcement of Nigerian Overnight Financing Rate (NOFR), unification of the foreign exchange market, the move to a willing-buyer, willing-seller regime, the introduction of the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System, the clearing of the foreign exchange backlog and a firm return to orthodox monetary policy focused on price stability.
These were stated yesterday in Lagos by the President of ACTN, Mr. Adeyinka Ogunnubi, during a press conference to announce the 2026 Treasury360 Conference, Exhibition & Corporate Treasury Awards, which will hold in Lagos on November 26 and 27, 2026.
The theme of the conference is ‘The Intelligent Treasury: Evolving from Reactive to Proactive Foresight Through AI, Automation and Predictive Decision-Making’.
Ogunnubi, who is also the Group Treasurer, CFAO, urged the CBN to continue to deepen transparent and efficient financial markets.
He said, “The reforms of recent years, and the arrival of NOFR, have laid strong foundations. Building on them with a wider range of financing and risk-management tools will help businesses hedge their exposures and invest with confidence.
“This is why ACTN fully welcomed and supported the monetary policy reforms undertaken by the CBN.
He described these reforms as difficult decisions whose effects were felt in every boardroom, corporate income statement, balance sheet and hopefully in every household as well.
“But they were the right foundations for a market that prices risk honestly, and many of the businesses represented here today are now planning in a far more predictable environment than they were three years ago,” he said.
Ogunnubi added that the ACTN also welcomed another important step taken by the CBN, which is the introduction of the NOFR, in collaboration with the Financial Markets Dealers Association.
He said, “For too long, Nigerian financial contracts have been priced off a patchwork of different reference rates.
“Borrowers and lenders have often been left asking a simple question: which rate is the real cost of money?
“NOFR offers a clear answer. It is derived from actual overnight secured transactions, not estimates, and it places Nigeria alongside global benchmarks such as SOFR in the United States and SONIA in the United Kingdom.”
He expressed hope that the launching of NOFR would settle, once and for all, the conversation about a single reference rate in Nigeria.
According to him, “a credible, transaction-based benchmark brings rigour to loan pricing, clarity to financial documentation and a common foundation for hedging and risk management.
“For corporate treasurers, the work now is adoption: understanding how NOFR will feature in our facilities, our contracts and our forecasts.
“ACTN is committed to supporting our members through that transition, and Treasury360 will be one of the places where that conversation takes shape.”
Ogunnubi also announced that the keynote speakers for Treasury360 2026 conference are the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck J. Rewane; Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Convexity Technologies Limited, Mr. Adedeji Owonibi; Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CEDE Technologies, Mr. Akin Afolabi and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Multigate, Mr. Eghosa Nehikhare.